Norsk Titanium, Norway, recently announced agreements with Mecachrome, Thales, Boeing, and the state of New York regarding its Rapid Plasma Deposition (RPD) additive manufacturing process. Norsk says that these titanium parts have strengths equivalent to those of forgings, but at lower cost and shorter design-to-market times.
Mecachrome: Norsk will deliver finished aerospace titanium structural components produced by its RPD additive manufacturing process to current Mecachrome aerospace OEMs and their Tier One suppliers.
Thales: Norsk has signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space to develop, produce, and test RPD components weighing more than 3 kg for spaceflight.
Boeing: The engineering test article order involves Norsk Titanium producing titanium Ti-6Al-4V additive manufactured preforms, and delivering them to Boeing for further testing and evaluation.
The state of New York: In partnership with SUNY Polytechnic Institute, the state has placed an order for an initial lot of 20 Norsk Titanium Merke IV Rapid Plasma Deposition machines for the world’s first RPD factory, to be located in Plattsburgh, New York. Planned to be operational by the end of 2017, the first 20 machines are to establish a baseline production level of 400 metric tons per year of aerospace-grade structural titanium components.
In the Rapid Plasma Deposition process, titanium wire is melted in a cloud of argon gas and precisely and rapidly built up in layers to a near-net-shape (up to 80% complete) that requires very little finish machining. Production cost is less than legacy forging and billet manufacturing techniques, due to significantly less waste and machining energy. Part build size: 900mm x 600mm x 300mm; Layer dimensions: H=3-4mm / W=8-12mm; Deposition rate: 5-10kg/hour.
